COVINGTON -- Nick Collins, the former Newton High School head football coach, has left the Newton County School System. During its monthly meeting Tuesday night, the Newton County Board of Education unanimously accepted Collins' resignation.

Collins was transferred to the NCSS service center at the end of August, following his involvement in an altercation that occurred earlier that month.

Collins was part of an incident that occurred after school on the Newton campus with football team booster club president Felicia Jackson and her son, a player on the football team. According to a report from the Newton County Sheriff's Office, Collins cursed at Jackson during a meeting with her and later tried to jump over a table toward her son after he quit the team and threw his gear near Collins, resulting in a football helmet hitting him in the head. The three also continued a heated argument in the school's parking lot before each party left the property.

After an investigation, Collins was placed on administrative leave with pay and later terminated as the school's head football coach by former school principal Roderick Sams. Sams resigned on Sept. 1, although there is no indication his resignation was related to the Collins incident.

NCSS later placed Collins on a Professional Development Plan for close monitoring of his professional practices and transferred him to the service center, where he was assigned to special projects in purchasing, school nutrition, maintenance, transportation and some elements of capital projects.

In his resignation letter to NCSS Superintendent Gary Mathews, Collins did not elaborate about the reason for his resignation. It is listed as a personal reason in the NCSS personnel recommendation to the school board.

NCSS also filed a complaint about Collins with the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, but the commission has yet to review the complaint to determine whether or not an investigation is warranted. It will go before the group in November for consideration, according to the ethics division at the GPSC.